Bastille Day Leaves mind free from burdens

Idris Elba is a towering, masculine, beautiful tour de force at the top of his game. He is the main reason to watch Bastille Day, and there is a high likelihood that he took the job so that he could sing on the album. Even if that weren’t the case, Bastille Day is a confused, popcorn movie that lacks any real meat to it, which is just fine if you like watching Elba play the same character he plays in Luther.

The movie itself has a hard time deciding if it wants to be a Dirty Harry film or a Buddy Cop movie. Unfortunately, it opts for the latter, and while Richard Madden provides some levity as the pick pocket in the wrong place at the wrong time, he just can’t match Elba in screen presence. Madden is as forgettable as his pick pocket character – good for pick pockets, bad for movie actors.

The first half of the film features lots of shaking cam during office meetings of all shots. It was as if the company couldn’t afford a crane and the cameraman had the inability to hold the camera still. The only reason that this type of camera work makes sense is if the scenes were so boring that they needed some shaking up or if the director was going for “real.” Whatever the reason, when the action gets rolling the camera mostly becomes stable.​Bastille Day offers to good jump shock moments, but they may only work in a theater or someplace where the sound is turned up, and the rooftop chase scene is pretty intense. For Elba fans, there isn’t enough of him in the film, even if there is just enough to justify a movie ticket. Those who want to see something instantly forgettable will find that this film meets their requirements.